Published: Sunday, October 20, 2013 at 07:51 PM.

Mitchell, who said he had no idea that Bradford had been injured on the play, said Dahl was issuing a lot of choice words his way.

“I’ve gotten some personal fouls called on me earlier this year and it took everything I had in my power not to get one today,” said Mitchell, who didn’t respond to Dahl. “I gottabe smarter than that. The team is bigger than me. I just ran away… literally.”

No. 800 in a big way

Wide receiver Steve Smith’s 800th career catch came on a 19-yard scoring pass with 27 seconds left in the third quarter that pushed Carolina’s lead to 27-12.

The score was vintage Smith. After sidestepping cornerback Janoris Jenkins, he then juked the safety and jogged into the end zone untouched. He topped it off with the patented Smittycelebration with an extra twist - happy jig, sidestep, sidestep, chest thrust and ball spin.

“It means a great deal to me,” said Smith, who is one of only 29 players in NFL history to record 800 catches. “It would mean a lot less if I got my 800th reception and we lost, so it’s much better to enjoy that win.”

Quarterback Cam Newton said the team was unaware that Smith was on the verge of making history.

CHARLOTTE — Midway through the third quarter of Sunday’s game here between the St. Louis Rams and Carolina Panthers, the NFL contest had a feel of an afternoon matinee, alate fall day spent under a cloudless Carolina blue sky.

A halftime show adorned with pink balloons in a tribute to the league’s breast cancer awareness campaign and a performance by an “American Idol” singer only enhanced the warm, fuzzy feelings.

Then, the fun started.

What followed were five personal foul penalties on the Rams, including the ejection of an All-Pro defensive end, two personal fouls on the Panthers, including one that wiped out an almost-certain Carolina touchdown, and an injury that sent St. Louis quarterback Sam Bradford off on a golf cart and leaves the Rams’ season in doubt.

With 9:59 left in the third quarter, Carolina offensive tackles Byron Bell and Jordan Gross got tangled up with defensive lineman Robert Quinn, who had been a thorn in the Panthers’ side for most of three quarters and had knocked the face of the franchise, quarterback Cam Newton, from the game with a hard hit just a play before.

Soon, a full scrum broke out. A Rams helmet was tossed, players were pushing and shoving, and yellow flags flew.

The end result?St. Louis defensive end Chris Long was tossed for throwing a punch.

“A lot of time when skirmishes start, you may get pushing and shoving and a little swinging here and there, but this was 20 seconds later and he still couldn’t be restrained by his teammates. And he threw an absolute haymaker. I haven’t seen that in a long time,” said Carolina reserve tight end Ben Hartsock, who has spent 10 seasons in the NFL and was on the outer edges of the scrum.

Long’s ejection was celebrated by the majority of the 72,866 in the stands, as well as Hartsock, who took delight in showing Long the way to the locker room.

“I was just signaling to everybody that, ‘He’s out of here,’” Hartsocksaid. “It’s a moment where you try to capitalize on the momentum and get everybody stirred up. They were fired up and maybe they lose their composure a little bit more. And that’s the game within the game.

“I kind of enjoy getting guys worked up like that. I had 97 (Rams defensive end Eugene Sims) in an absolute lather there towards the end of the game.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Rams offensive tackle Harvey Dahl was penalized for unnecessary roughness after a late hit on Carolina defensive end Greg Hardy. Safety Mike Mitchell and Hardy responded by pushing Dahl.

One play later, the Rams got hit with another 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty when former Appalachian State star wide receiver Brian Quick slapped Mitchell’s helmet after the whistle had blown.

“They wanted to pick a fight with us,” Mitchell said. “This is professional football and I think their team did a bad job of handling situations. I thought we did a good job of staying composed.”

But the Panthers were not without their own faults.

With 7:32 left in the third quarter, fullback Mike Tolbert was flagged for a personal foul penalty with Carolina at the St. Louis 1 and on the verge of taking a commanding 19-point lead. The 15-yard penalty pushed the Panthers back and they had to settle for a 31-yard Graham Ganofield goal.

Later, in the fourth quarter, Hardy would be penalized for a late hit on Bradford.

A few plays later, Dahl would be hit with another personal foul and 15-yard penalty when he went after Mitchell on what he perceived was Mitchell celebrating a questionable tackle of Bradford along the Rams’ sideline.

Bradford would be carted off with an injury after the play.

“When he came off the sidelines and put his hands on Mike Mitchell, I thought, ‘Oh no, this could be bad,” said Hartsock, who played with Dahl in Atlanta and says the 6-foot, 5-inch, 306-pound lineman is a “roughneck.”

“I thought he was gonna spear him in the back. Harvey is one of those guys, bless him, I love him. He plays with passion. He plays hard. He’s a guy you want in your corner, but he lost his composure there and hurt his team,” Hartsocksaid.

Mitchell, who said he had no idea that Bradford had been injured on the play, said Dahl was issuing a lot of choice words his way.

“I’ve gotten some personal fouls called on me earlier this year and it took everything I had in my power not to get one today,” said Mitchell, who didn’t respond to Dahl. “I gottabe smarter than that. The team is bigger than me. I just ran away… literally.”

No. 800 in a big way

Wide receiver Steve Smith’s 800th career catch came on a 19-yard scoring pass with 27 seconds left in the third quarter that pushed Carolina’s lead to 27-12.

The score was vintage Smith. After sidestepping cornerback Janoris Jenkins, he then juked the safety and jogged into the end zone untouched. He topped it off with the patented Smittycelebration with an extra twist - happy jig, sidestep, sidestep, chest thrust and ball spin.

“It means a great deal to me,” said Smith, who is one of only 29 players in NFL history to record 800 catches. “It would mean a lot less if I got my 800th reception and we lost, so it’s much better to enjoy that win.”

Quarterback Cam Newton said the team was unaware that Smith was on the verge of making history.

“I love that guy and have learned so much from that guy and continue to learn from him,” he said.

Smith, who finished the day with five catches for 69 yards, has now caught a pass in 97 straight games. The streak dates back to the 2006 season finale.

Captain of Pick Sixes

Cornerback Captain Munnerlyn’s 45-yard interception return for a touchdown on the Rams’ first offensive play from scrimmage tied a Panthers’ team record. The pick six was Munnerlyn’sfourth as a Panther, tying Mike Minter’s (1997-2006) record.

“It was like a punt return to me,” he said of Bradford’s wayward throw that was caused by a blitzing Quintin Mikell. “It seems like every time I get my hands on the football, I take it to the house. I always mess around with the guys, telling them, ‘Every time I touch the ball, all I think about is end zone.’”

Munnerlynhad two interception returns for a touchdown in 2012, tying Minter (2003) and Eric Davis (1998) as only the Panthers with multiple interceptions for a touchdown in one year.

Later in the first quarter, Munnerlyn also recovered a fumble after Mitchell stripped Rams receiver TavonAustin of the ball.

Fantasy touchdown vulture

With his rushing score in the second quarter, Tolbert only added to his reputation for knowing his way to the end zone.

Entering Sunday, Tolbert had 28 rushing touchdowns since 2010, eighth-most in the NFL during that time period. He leads the Panthers with three rushing touchdowns. Quarterback Cam Newton has two.

Panthersbits

Newton moved into third place in team history for completions, passing Kerry Collins (694, 1995-98)… Ganohad three field goals on Sunday, including one of 50 yards. He’s now 9-for-9 on the season.